2 missing Round Rock children found safe

Jacob Carpenter, Keri Blakinger, Brooke A. Lewis
| on January 3, 2018

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Round Rock police said Lili Griffith and Lulu Bandera-Margaret are in "grave or immediate danger" after they were abducted by Terry Miles. Police issued an Amber Alert on Sunday, December 31, 2017. (PhotoRound Rock police said Lili Griffith and Lulu Bandera-Margaret are in "grave or immediate danger" after they were abducted by Terry Miles. Police issued an Amber Alert on Sunday, December 31, 2017. (Photo courtesy of Texas Department of Public Safety)

Photo: The National Center For Missing And Exploited Children

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See Houston-area children who have been reported missing so far in 2017 up ahead.

The two children who went missing after their mother was found dead were safely located Wednesday night, according to Round Rock Police Chief Allen Banks. Authorities had been searching for the children since New Year's Eve.

Terry Allen Miles, the deceased mother's roommate, was a person of interest in the case. He was caught in Colorado without incident, Banks said at a press conference late Wednesday evening.

"It wasn't if the girls came home, it has always been when the girls came home," said Banks. "That just goes to tell you the passion in returning these girls home safe."

Banks said a Los Animas County sheriff in Colorado located Miles after receiving a tip that he and the girls were in the area. The sheriff found the vehicle and trailed behind Miles, who started driving erratically.

A traffic stop was initiated on the car after the sheriff called for back-up. The two girls were found safe inside the vehicle and Miles was taken into custody.

Two detectives from the Round Rock police department will fly Thursday morning to Colorado to conduct interviews.

A number of tips from the southern Colorado region has led law enforcement to focus on that area, Banks said. A surveillance video showing the deceased mother's roommate, 44-year-old Terry Allen Miles, at an unidentified local business on Dec. 30 in Trinidad, Colorado had also caused authorities to search the surrounding area.

Authorities called off the Texas Amber Alert earlier on Wednesday and issued one for Colorado instead.

"Somebody out there is going to recognize Terry Miles," said Banks during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. "Someone out there is going to recognize our two sisters, Lily and Lulu. We want somebody to call us. We want to bring those girls home safely."

Authorities launched a search for the children after responding to a welfare concern in the 2600 block of Leslie Court on New Year's Eve, only to find 44-year-old Tonya Bates dead and the two children missing, according to a police press release.

Police initially said they believed Lilianais Victoria Cake Griffith, 14, and Luluvioletta Mariposo Bandera-Magret, 7, were in "grave or immediate danger" after an abduction.

Miles has been wanted both in connection with the missing girls and as a person of interest in their mother's "suspicious" death.

A single Round Rock police patrol unit was parked, Monday, in front of a duplex on Leslie Court. On the other side of the crime scene tape, James Reid and his family live next door.
Media: Fox7

Banks said the two girls were not seen in the surveillance video. He noted that agencies across the country have been working with Round Rock Police Department to locate the two missing girls.

Miles is described as a 6-foot-2-inch, 200-pound white male with hazel eyes, glasses and a beard. He is driving a 2017 Hyundai Accent with a Texas license plate "JGH9845," police said. He was last heard from in Round Rock, a northern suburb of Austin, though police said he could be en route to Louisiana.

Griffith is 5 feet tall and 100 pounds, with light brown hair, brown eyes, braces and a stud on the right side of her nose. Bandera-Magret is 4 feet 5 inches tall and 75 pounds, with curly brown hair and brown eyes.